Sweden's foreign minister signs NATO membership application

Created: 05/17/2022, 12:49 p.m

Historic moment: Swedish Foreign Minister Ann Linde signs the application for NATO membership.

© Henrik Montgomery/TT News Agency/AP/dpa

Now it's official: the application for NATO membership was signed in Stockholm.

"It feels big," says Swedish Foreign Minister Linde.

Stockholm - Sweden's Foreign Minister Ann Linde signed her country's NATO membership application on Tuesday.

"Our NATO application is now officially signed," Linde wrote on Twitter.

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This will now be sent to NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg as soon as Finland has signed an application.

The two countries, which decided to apply for membership in the military alliance under the impression of the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine, want to submit their membership applications together.

Finland's President Sauli Niinistö and the Finnish government have already decided to submit an application.

The Finnish parliament could still vote on Tuesday.

The Swedish government made the final decision on the NATO membership application on Monday.

"It feels big, it feels serious, it feels like we've ended up doing what we think is best for Sweden," Linde said on Tuesday.

dpa